Herodotus, The Histories, Book 4, chapter 85

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But Darius, when he came to that place in his march from Susa where the Bosporus was bridged in the territory of Calchedon, went aboard ship and sailed to the Dark Rocks¹ (as they are called), which the Greeks say formerly moved; there, he sat on a headland and viewed the Pontus, a marvellous sight. [2] For it is the most wonderful sea of all. Its length is eleven thousand one hundred stades, and its breadth three thousand three hundred stades at the place where it is widest.² [3] The channel at the entrance of this sea is four stades across; the narrow neck of the channel, called Bosporus, across which the bridge was thrown, is about one hundred and twenty stades long. The Bosporus reaches as far as to the Propontis; [4] and the Propontis is five hundred stades wide and one thousand four hundred long; its outlet is the Hellespont, which is no wider than seven stades and four hundred long. The Hellespont empties into a gulf of the sea which we call Aegean.

1 Rocks (the “Wandering” or “Clashing” Rocks of Greek legend) off the northern end of the Bosporus.

2 Herodotus is wrong. The Black Sea is 720 miles long (about 6280 stades), and, at the point of Herodotus' measurement, about 270 miles broad; its greatest breadth is 380 miles. His estimates for the Propontis and Hellespont are also in excess, though not by much; the Bosporus is a little longer than he says, but its breadth is correctly given.

Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.

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Commentary references to this page (1):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone, 966
Cross-references to this page (11):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.1
- Harper's, Pons
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), EIREN
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PONS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AEGAEUM MARE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BO´SPORUS THRA´CIUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CHALCE´DON
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HELLESPONTUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PROPONTIS
- Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, The Article
- Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, Concord
Cross-references in notes to this page (1):
- Apollodorus, Library, Apollod. 1.9
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (10):
- LSJ, Κυάνεαι
- LSJ, Προποντίς
- LSJ, αὐχήν
- LSJ, ἑαυτοῦ
- LSJ, καταδίδωμι
- LSJ, πέλα^γ-ος
- LSJ, πλαγκ-τός
- LSJ, στενό-της
- LSJ, χάσμα
- LSJ, ζεύγνυ_μι

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Herodotus, The Histories
A. D. Godley, Ed.

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Herodotus, The Histories A. D. Godley, Ed.

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Herodotus, The Histories
A. D. Godley, Ed.